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Stone related books for Christmas

Stone related books for Christmas

Stone related books make great presents for your stone mad friends. Here are a few stone related books I recommend checking out if you are looking for some great christmas presents. Just remember if you’re planning on ordering your books online, get ordering soon to be sure you receive them before Christmas. Most of the links provided have free worldwide shipping. Some of the books need to be ordered from the artist’s direct but I have added these links also. The prices I hav

The Timekeeper

The Timekeeper

Earlier in the year I was commissioned under the Per Cent for Art scheme to create a sculpture for a secondary school in Drogheda Co. Louth. The brief was to create a piece to commemorate the transition of the school from its humble beginnings into the new extensive extension, the sculpture is based on the subject of the movement of time. Our history traced through stone. The permanence of stone means that much of what we know about our past has been discovered through exami

Can tradespeople be artists? Lets ask Johnny Clasper.

Can tradespeople be artists? Lets ask Johnny Clasper.

Can tradespeople be artists? An interesting question which is being explored by a new Irish series on TG4 at the moment called ‘Dullamullóg’ Launched last Sunday 13th January, the show follows six tradespeople who take on the challenge of creating a piece of critically acclaimed art. Each tradesperson is paired up with a professional artist who helps them with their work. The final piece is then put in amongst professional art works which are all scrutinised by art critic Cia

Happy New Year and reflecting back on 2012

Happy New Year and reflecting back on 2012

Happy New Year everyone. I feel the need to write a new blog post as I have been neglecting to do so over the past six months or so. Looking back at 2012 it has been a mixed year. While battling our way though a severe recession I reflected on some of the positives of 2012. Although I had a long and quiet winter and spring, 2012 did bring along a few projects that I am very happy with. I did get to make a stone mosaic panel that I had been wanting to make for some time. My mi

Turning old instruments into art!

Turning old instruments into art!

So this is a post that will strike different ‘chords’ with different people. For some this is art, but others may see this as decimation of a beautiful instrument. But before you begin to grieve for them, to my knowledge all the instruments shown here were beyond repair. The above picture is of the Garden Piano in the gardens of HagalFarm, my parents’ holistic retreat in West Cork, Ireland. I have written about this in a previous blog post which you can find here. Recently I

Once upon a fairytale garden

Once upon a fairytale garden

So it is a new year, and for many people 2012 is looking pretty bleak indeed. That is why I am re-posting this old post I did last year. This story can help remind us that even from the ashes of devastation and despair, life and prosperity will once again flourish. Wishing everyone a very happy new year, and I hope 2012 brings you all good health, wealth, and happiness. Once upon a time in the hills of the great dividing range of Victoria on the edge of a town called Marysvil

Making a mosaic

Making a mosaic

Here is a picture of a project I recently finished for an artist in West Cork. The mosaic in the center was actually a bit of an afterthought. The seating area was initially designed to have a fire pit in the center but later the client decided against the fire pit. I still wanted to have some sort of central feature, so I decided to put in a mosaic instead. I have been getting a lot of reaction to the mosaic I made for the center, I also have been getting some feedback from

This year for National Tree Week, why not let the trees do some art!!!

This year for National Tree Week, why not let the trees do some art!!!

So it’s National Tree Week again here in Ireland! Last year in my post Grow our own chairs for national tree week, I instructed ye all to go and create some art by growing a chair out of trees. (I have yet to hear from ye how that went). So this year, why not let the trees themselves make some art! This is precisely what British artist Tim Knowles did back in 2005 when he started his series of art pieces, simply called ‘Tree Drawings’ Tim’s idea was to create a series of draw

Artist Liu Bolin’s disappearance into the landscape.

Artist Liu Bolin’s disappearance into the landscape.

Came across this amazing guy the other day. 37-year-old artist Liu Bolin, from Shandong, China camouflages himself into the environment. The talented Liu Bolin says his art is a protest against the actions of the Government, who shut down his art studio in 2005 and persecutes artists. It’s about not fitting into modern society. The government had stipulated that it didn’t want artists gathering and working together. Despite these problems with the authorities, Liu’s works are

The Plant Kingdom, a source for inspiration for sculptor Ruth Moilliet

The Plant Kingdom, a source for inspiration for sculptor Ruth Moilliet

The plant kingdom is a source of inspiration for all plant and garden lovers, and for UK artist Ruth Moilliet this is also very much the case, as it is very evident in her sculptures. Eryngium The beauty of Ruth’s sculptures is that they highlight the amazing floral architecture that excises all around us, which is so too often over looked. Alliums In Ruth’s personal statement she describes how “In my work I reflect a childhood dream to be able to shrink in size, like ‘Alice’

Art inspired landscape art. Sculptures by J. Seward Johnson

Art inspired landscape art. Sculptures by J. Seward Johnson

Between work, the fantastic summer were having so far and of course the world cup, I have had very little time for blogging in resent weeks. So this again will be a quick little post of something that caught my interest recently. When flicking through a book recently I came across this first picture, and for a split second I thought that there was something a bit funny about this famous painting by Edouard Manet. I quickly realised that this was of course not Manet’s ‘Déjeune

Grow our own chairs for national tree week

Grow our own chairs for national tree week

1987 Peter Cook As it is national tree week here in Ireland (7-13 March) at the moment, I thought a tree related post would be appropriate. So what better way to celebrate national tree week, than growing your own chair out of trees!!!!!!!!! Unfortunately as I am currently renting a house in the centre of Dublin city, so I am unable to get to try this out myself, during national tree week, but as soon as I have time to head out to the home place in the heart of the country s

Garden Labyrinth

Garden Labyrinth

This seven circuit classical hedge labyrinth with enlarged centre, was designed and constructed by my dad, Fred Wieler in the beautiful gardens, (a labyrinth in it’s self) of Hagal Farm – a holistic retreat centre and our family home. Hagal Farm is nestled on the slopes of the Maughanaclea mountains, in the picturesque Mealagh valley near Bantry, in West Cork. The gardens at Hagal Farm spared out over about four acres, making up a number of different gardens, each with its o

The Shell House at Ballymaloe Cookery School

The Shell House at Ballymaloe Cookery School

Ballymaloe house and gardens are nestled in a 400 acre estate that dates back to the early 1800’s in the rural setting of Shanagarry, East Cork. Alongside this renowned Irish country house hotel and restaurant owned and run by the Allen family for over 40 years is there famous cookery school and gardens. It is here in one of the many individual gardens of Ballymaloe that you will find the Shell House. As you enter the Shell House garden through the gate, a straight grass path

Living Willow Structures

Living Willow Structures

I am currently looking into organising a weekend workshop in live willow structures in West Cork, which has inspired me to write a post on the topic. I have always liked the ides of willow structures and am looking forward to the opportunity of creating one. Willow has been highly valued since ancient times. The Celts considered it sacred. It has been used medicinally, as a dye plant, to make charcoal and as a timber. In more recent times, as we strive for green alternatives

Stone art in its most gigantic of scales. The Crazy Horse Memorial

Stone art in its most gigantic of scales. The Crazy Horse Memorial

Here is some stone art in its most gigantic of scales. I recently saw this monumental piece of stone art on the telly and was very intrigued. Just down the road from Mount Rushmore (an icon of North America) it is quite amazing to see one of these monuments being sculpted. The Crazy Horse Memorial is a mountain monument under construction in the Black Hills of South Dakota, in the form of Crazy Horse, an Oglala Lakota warrior, riding a horse and pointing into the distance. Th